


Fish Breath

by crystalheaven



Series: Otterly Tony [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Animal Transformation, F/M, Gen, Otter-catastrophy, Tony has apparently yet to learn this lesson, hail hail the gangs all here, there are better ways to deal with people than running away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 08:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1380388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalheaven/pseuds/crystalheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They turn their backs for just a second, but that is all it took for Tony to make his break for freedom and give them the slip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fish Breath

They turn their backs for just a second, but that is all it took for Tony to make his break for freedom and give them the slip. Otter paws are surprisingly quiet on hardwood and tile, which, added onto the fact that Tony GREW UP in this house, and installed the security system himself, pretty much means they have no idea where he is. JARVIS regretfully informed them that he can not locate Tony either. Apparently, the house’s biometric scanners aren’t programed for a billionaire who's been magically transformed into a 30lb otter. Who knew? 

It's a fact they planned on rectifying, once they manage to get their hands on the slippery little bugger. He might only be 2 feet tall, but he’s damn FAST when he wants to be.

They split up, hoping that by covering more ground, they might be able to find him faster. Not that Tony is in any real danger on the grounds, but accidents do happen. Not to mention what Pepper would do to them if she got back from placating the Board at Stark Enterprises to discover that the team let one little otter get hurt in his own house.

Bruce, Betty, and Jane took the labs. The doors between Tony and them might slow him down, but as they discovered the other day, nothing stops him for very long. Darcy headed for the offices, hoping that Tony figured that they would never look for him there. Steve and Natasha the gym and training rooms. There were a lot of things for little otter paws to get smashed on in there. Clint headed for the training grounds outside, and Thor took to the skies to do a flyby of the house. With Tony stuck to four feet, he was the only other flyer the team had.

***

They hadn’t managed to find him by the time Pepper make it home. She stood very still when they told her what happened, counting slowly in her head, before she had kicked off her shoes, dropped her bag and coat in the office by the door, and joined in the search. She would deal with the fact that they didn’t call her right away when she isn’t quite so angry.

***

It’s was nearing 3am, and Natasha had finally convinced her that she needs to get some rest, even if sleep is off the table. She has a 7am meeting with the board in a few hours, to continue the disaster that was today’s (yesterday’s?) meeting and reassure the shareholders that while yes, technically Tony is an otter, Stark Enterprises will continue on. After all, the spell isn’t permanent, and she is CEO, after all. If nothing else, they will carry on as needed.

Unpinning her hair, she made her way toward her and Tony’s quarters in the East Wing. Curling her toes as she walked across the carpet, she grabbed her essentials, made a quick detour to the bathroom, before dropping face first into the giant pile of pillows on their bed. They had chosen it together when they had moved back to New York fully, and decided that this thing between them wasn't going to blow up in their face.

The first brush against her skin was waved off as nothing more that her hair. The second had her cracking her eye open to see a toothy grin about a hand’s width from her face.

“You have fish breath,” she said, which was a lie, but made him rear back on his haunches and rub his paws over his face compulsively, as if he can make the non-existent smell disappear by scrubbing it off through sheer willpower.

“JARVIS?” she says, one eye on the otter in front of her as if that will keep him from disappearing again.

“Yes Miss Potts?”

“Could you please let the others know that Tony is alright?”

“Already done, Miss Potts.”

“Thank you JARVIS.” she replies, because it is polite, and it drives Tony nuts when she thanks the AI, which is why she does it in front of him all the time.

Sure enough, Tony has paused in rubbing his face long enough to twitch his whiskers in her direction to let her know he saw what she just did.

“It wouldn’t kill either of you if you were a little nicer.” Tony sneezed at her. “Don’t think that you being an otter is going to get you out of this, either.” He sighs, flopping flat on his stomach. She doesn’t move, just keeps one eye on him, face still mashed into the pillows.

He cast a wary eye in her direction, before wriggling his way a tiny inch forward. When she doesn’t react, he wriggles a whisker’s breath closer, then closer again. He is so close all she would have to do is twitch her hand, and her fingers would be buried in his soft fur. She doesn’t move.

His body slowly tenses, then he makes his cautious way to all fours before slowly backing away toward his usual side of the bed and the pile of pillows that Pepper realizes he must have hid himself in earlier.

She lets his front paw touch the pillows before holding her arm up and motioning for him to cuddle in close. In a flash, Tony is across the bed and tucked up under her chin, paws wrapped tightly on her wrist as she pulls him close.

“Just, let someone know next time, okay? I know they can be a little much, but taking off without telling them why doesn’t solve anything.” Tony sighs, and rubs his whiskers against her neck. She took it as the assent it was.


End file.
